Doctor Says J&J/Cordis Stents Infringe Patent

Law360, New York (October 10, 2007, 12:00 AM EDT) -- A doctor from New Jersey is suing Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary Cordis Corp. in a bid to tap into the multibillion-dollar market for drug-eluting coronary stents, claiming that the defendants' stents infringe a patent he secured in 1997.

Bruce N. Saffran, M.D., Ph.D., filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, asking an east Texas court to award treble damages and issue a permanent injunction barring the alleged infringement of the patent-in-suit.

J&J/Cordis and Boston Scientific Corp. are currently the only two companies with regulatory approval to market...